MBI Weekly Meeting Seminar
Time: 10.00am -11.00am
Date: Friday, 1 Nov 2019
Venue: Level 5 Seminar Room, T-Lab
OrBID (OculaR BIomaterials and Device): A Biomaterials (polymer) platform providing clinical solutions for retinal disease
By Dr Su Xinyi, Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, A*STAR Singapore (hosted by A/Prof. Toyama Yusuke)
Our research program aims to develop a hydrogel-based biomaterials platform to solve unmet clinical needs in ophthalmology. Our focus is on developing polymers for vitreo-retinal applications, such as (i) Vitreous substitutes: as internal tamponade agents after vitrectomy, (ii) Sustained intravitreal drug delivery, (iii) Retinal cellular therapeutics: surgical adjuncts for subretinal RPE transplantation.
Current agents used for medium and long-term tamponade after vitreo-retinal surgery, such as expansile gases and silicone oil, have been around since the 1960s. Despite their inherent limitations, they have not been replaced due to a lack of better alternatives. Sustained intravitreal drug delivery of biologics is the holy grail of ocular therapeutics. However, a suitable drug delivery vehicle has remained elusive due to the lack of ideal biomaterials. Lastly, stem cell transplantation is seen as the future of retinal therapeutics for treatment of age-related macular degeneration. There is still a lack of suitable materials to generate multi-layer retinal tissues for functional transplantation.
We propose that hydrogels (hydrophilic polymers), which are optically clear and strongly resemble the natural vitreous, are promising alternatives to existing materials. In collaboration with Dr Loh Xian Jun’s group at IMRE, our team has the ability to synthesize a wide range of proprietary functional, biodegradable and thermosensitive hydrogels. Of significance, we have recently demonstrated that our thermogel is able function effectively as an internal tamponade using a non-human primate retinal detachment surgery model, with no long-term toxicity to the retina. Our future work also includes studying how these hydrogel-based polymers affect retina intra-cellular functions, and modulate cell-cell interaction.
